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Benjamin Britten: 50th anniversary of death
The 50th anniversary of Britten’s death falls on 4 December 2026, marked by events in his home town of Aldeburgh and throughout the wider musical world. Boosey & Hawkes is completing its video series Benjamin Britten: Notes from the Archive created in collaboration with The Red House in Aldeburgh.
Half a century ago on 4 December 1976, Benjamin Britten died at his home, The Red House, in Aldeburgh. The 50th anniversary is marked in Aldeburgh with performances of St Nicolas, the Phantasy Quartet and Lachrymae in iconic Britten venues including the Snape Maltings Concert Hall and Aldeburgh Church where he is buried (4-6 December). Beyond concerts, other events include a special tour at the Red House examining Britten’s final months and his legacy, a study morning with Dr Lucy Walker, and a Sunday service of thanksgiving full of the music that Britten loved.
Across the same weekend the Wigmore Hall in London hosts concerts focused on Britten’s songs and chamber music (3-6 December), part of a 12-concert season-long series tracing Britten’s deep history with the venue. Vocal highlights include Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and Les Illuminations presented by the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, and Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo sung by Robin Tritschler, with two concerts live streamed. The anniversary month at the Wigmore Hall ends with all five Britten Canticles sung by Allan Clayton, Iestyn Davies and Peter Braithwaite (22 December), with further concerts in the Wigmore Hall series scheduled for the New Year through to March.
A performance of Britten's A Ceremony of Carols by the Choir of Westminster Abbey, conducted by Andrew Nethsingha with harpist Anne Denholm-Blair, filmed at Wigmore Hall in November 2026, will be released as a free broadcast on the Wigmore Hall's website on 4 December. As well as marking the exact 50th anniversary of Britten's death it remembers a notable moment in the Hall's history: on 4 December 1943, exactly 33 years before his death, Britten conducted the first performance of the revised version of A Ceremony of Carols with harp accompaniment at Wigmore Hall.
The anniversary, together with the globally pressing need for peaceful reconciliation, have prompted an extensive list of War Requiem performances across the season, in Coventry Cathedral, La Scala Milan, London, Paris, Dublin, Lisbon, Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Santiago and staged at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper in Daniel Kramer’s production, originally presented at English National Opera. Conductors include Marin Alsop, Edward Gardner, Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, Donald Runnicles, Kazuki Yamada and Simone Young.
Notes from the Archive video series
In the run up to December, Boosey & Hawkes will be releasing the final three videos in its series Benjamin Britten: Notes from the Archive, created in honour of the anniversary year in collaboration with The Red House in Aldeburgh, which holds the Britten and Pears archive. The works in focus in the final three episodes are The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Saint Nicolas and A Ceremony of Carols, to be released progressively over the coming months.
The ten-part video series ventures behind the scenes in the archives of the composer at his former home, The Red House in Aldeburgh, diving deeper into iconic works, their history, and the social context that surrounds them. Exploring composition manuscript drafts, annotated books and scripts, sketches, archive photographs and more, the videos are presented by the dedicated team of archivists who conserve the legacy of Benjamin Britten, bringing the history behind these iconic works to life. The series highlights the craftsmanship and versatility of Britten’s writing in every genre, from symphonic scores such as The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and the Piano Concerto, through works for the stage including Peter Grimes and Noye's Fludde, to Britten’s vocal music, the song cycles of Winter Words and his Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, as well as cherished choral titles like A Ceremony of Carols.
> View the complete video series
> Britten at Boosey & Hawkes
> Britten Pears Archive
> Britten Pears Arts
> Further information on Work: War Requiem
Photo: Lotte Meiter-Graf/Boosey & Hawkes